Phiyega: I’m no liar
Embattled top cop says her detractors want her out so that they can loot covert fund
SUSPENDED national police commissioner Riah Phiyega has hit back at her detractors, accusing them of wanting her out of the way so that they can loot police funds.
She is also determined to clear her name.
“I’m not a killer and I’m no liar,” she said in her first in-depth interview since her suspension last month following the release of the Marikana report.
Phiyega insinuated, without naming Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, that certain high-profile individuals were “hellbent” on undoing the tight financial controls in the South African Police Service for their own gain.
“Now I think there is too much control, there is no leeway to do the kind of things they want to do. Maybe the bread basket is too organised for them now.
“You no longer have access to the covert funds because we have processes and controls in place.”
Speaking to the Sunday Times at her Blue Valley Golf Estate home in Midrand, Gauteng, Phiyega partly blamed her woes on the systematic breakdown in her relationship with her political boss and accused him of interfering with SAPS structures and operations.
She described her relations with Nhleko as “nonexistent and ultracomplex . . . Not sound, and tentative”, saying they had not spoken in months. Nhleko, she added, refused to take a call from her on Wednesday and ignored an SMS she sent the same day requesting a
Even if they offer me a farm of gold . . . No golden handshake will let me go
copy of a damning report on her.
“I used to have robust discussions with [Nhleko’s predecessor Nathi] Mthethwa, he would give political guidance, we would not always agree, but we had the best interest of SAPS at heart,” she said.
But Nhleko’s spokesman, Musa Zondi, said the relationship between the minister and the national commissioner was “constitutionally defined and does not need to be defined in terms of emotionally laden words like ‘tentative’ ”.
On Wednesday, Nhleko released details of the so-called Reference Group report, which said Phiyega had flouted the police and labour relations acts, and was guilty of gross misconduct, fraud and perjury. The group investigated complaints about promotions and suspensions of senior officers and her alleged tip-off to suspended Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer that he was facing fraud and corruption charges.
The report recommended that Phiyega face internal disciplinary charges and be charged criminally, and that another board of inquiry be set up to investigate her.
She is already facing a board of inquiry set up by President Jacob Zuma to investigate her fitness to hold office following the killing of 34 striking miners by police in Marikana in 2012. That inquiry, which was scheduled to hold hearings in January, has been postponed to May.
A separate investigation into her, this time conducted by the parliamentary portfolio committee on police, has also recommended an investigation into how provincial commissioners drafted a statement to express their support for her following the Farlam inquiry’s findings on the Marikana massacre.
But on Friday, Phiyega said the endless investigations into her were a smoke screen to conceal ulterior motives.
She cited several examples of
what she considered Nhleko’s deliberate interference in SAPS operations.
She referred to a staff structure Nhleko presented to the portfolio committee in September wherein he increased the number of deputy national commissioners from three to seven, excluding the Hawks.
Phiyega said that five days after her suspension, the changes were effected, with acting police boss Khomotso Phahlane announcing that some divisions would be merged.
These included facilities and supply chain management. This, Phiyega said, is where she had put sound governance in control.
“Why did the minister present the new organogram to the portfolio committee? Structure is not him, it is me. He is not the DG [director-general] of police. I think they want to disintegrate the controls and governance and then be able to achieve particular things.”
For Phiyega, the intentions are clear.
“This is where you see the collusion. He is looking at wholesale changes, changing structures, technology, all the monied areas. So I’m not understanding the proposals that he is putting forward. It is very concerning that he is dabbling in that,” she said.
“What I am seeing is that the controls and order are a burden to certain individuals . . . people enjoy chaos. I’m sitting back and asking why are we avoiding order, because in disorder a lot can be hidden. And why would we change that which is starting to work?”
Zondi denied that the minister had anything to do with the changed organogram.
“The minister neither has the time, expertise, nor desire to change organograms,” he said.
Phiyega claimed that she was never given a chance to explain or defend herself during the hearings of the portfolio committee and the Reference Group.
She said she was asked to leave the portfolio committee meeting when the police commissioners were questioned and never called to give her version of events.
As for the Reference Group, Phiyega said Nhleko ignored a letter she sent late last year seeking clarity on its mandate and questions she raised about its security clearance.
Phiyega claims Nhleko never responded and that she was never contacted by the Reference Group.
“I was never called by anyone. They never invited me, they never asked me for documents.”
Zondi, however, put the blame on Phiyega: “The national commissioner never co-operated with the Reference Group, in fact, she went as far as to tell senior managers not to co-operate . . . Some senior managers did not attend Reference Group consultations as they said they were not allowed to do so by [her] office.”
A confident Phiyega said the accusations against her were “very suspicious” and vowed to fight back.
On Thursday she sent a lawyer’s letter to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, stating that the police portfolio committee contravened parliamentary rules in the way it had treated her. She has given them until tomorrow to rescind their decision to investigate her, or face court action.
“It’s malicious, vindictive and derogatory. I am willing to fight to clear my name,” said Phiyega.
She claims she is being targeted because she is a woman.
“As a woman I’m not going to be submissive. They thought I’d be like a wilted flower. I have nothing to lose.”
Asked if she ever considered quitting, Phiyega said: “Even if they offer me a farm of gold . . . millions . . . No golden handshake will let me go. I am hellbent on protecting my integrity. I will leave here with my good integrity intact.”
Police committee chairman François Beukman denied that there was a witch-hunt against Phiyega and said the committee had left it to the executive to decide on whether another board of inquiry was needed.
“We looked from an oversight perspective as portfolio committees do. We as the portfolio committee can’t act as a DC [disciplinary committee], it’s impossible . . . we evaluated from an oversight perspective. We are not colluding or whatever,” Beukman said.
Beukman said it had not been necessary to call Phiyega because the committee was not holding a disciplinary hearing, at which she would have had to submit evidence. He said Phiyega would have to raise legal arguments at an inquiry if one were set up.
[The minister] is looking at wholesale changes [in] all the monied areas